SJM $8.5m commitment from Aus PM announced

Michael Visontay, PM pledges extra funds to Jewish museum to educate against antisemitism, The Jewish Independent, 12 December 2024

The government announced $8.5 million for the redeveloped Sydney Jewish Museum following hate attacks in Melbourne and Sydney over the past week.

Torah scrolls from the Adass synagogue that was firebombed.

The Federal Government has responded to recent antisemitic attacks by investing additional funds in a new the Centre of Contemporary Jewish Life that will sit alongside the Sydney Jewish Museum.

The Centre is part of a planned major redevelopment of the Sydney Jewish Museum, which has until now been primarily a Holocaust museum but will be expanded over the next two years to include a second cultural facility under its banner.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced yesterday that the government will contribute $8.5 million to the upgrade to help young people understand history and “know that prejudice, hatred and violence has no place in Australia’s present or its future”.

The announcement follows another antisemitic attack this week, when a car was set on fire, and homes and footpath were graffitied with “Kill Israiel [sic]” and other offensive slogans in Woollahra in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

Albanese also promised the government would provide “whatever support is necessary financially” to rebuild the Adass Israel synagogue, which was firebombed in a terrorist attack last Friday. It has also granted $250,000 towards restoring and replacing Torah scrolls damaged in the attack.

The culprits in the synagogue attack have yet to be apprehended but police said the Woollahra suspects were 15-20 years old.

Queensland police have also charged a man whom they will allege made online threats towards a Jewish community centre in Victoria. Detectives from the Counter-Terrorism Investigation Group (CTIG) allege the 52-year-old posted verbal threats to social media on Saturday.

A focus on contemporary antisemitism

When the SJM is redeveloped, it will have an expanded focus on contemporary antisemitism and racism, a discussion that began before October 7, the Chief Executive of the SJM, Kevin Sumption, told The Jewish Independent.

“There will be a brand new program about fighting contemporary antisemitism,” Sumption said. “We are about what it is to be a good citizen, to be an upstander, what it is to call out hatred, racism, those kinds of things. That is the heart of what the education team does, and that’s what the government wants us to do more of.”

Anti-Israel graffiti is seen on Magney St, Woollahra in Sydney, December 11 (AAP/Mick Tsikas).

In addition, from 2027, it will be compulsory under the NSW school curriculum for students to study World War 2, and by extension, the Holocaust, Sumption said.

“There are compulsory components about the Holocaust and particularly how it impacted Australia,” says Sumption. “There’s a study unit in there, for instance, that looks specifically at survivors who made Australia home.

“So that is very likely to increase the number of students and teachers who’ll be seeking out the museum to come and do those components of the history curriculum as well.”

The NSW government, under Chris Minns, allocated $8.5 million to the redevelopment after the last state election in 2022 to help boost the museum’s educational horizons. That funding is another reason why the government is making Holocaust Studies compulsory, Sumption said. “So we’re really very well placed to respond to October 7.”

The attacks over the past week occurred as a report released just days ago showed anti-Jewish incidents have quadrupled in Australia since October 1, 2023.

On Tuesday, the Prime Minister visited the Adass synagogue in a show of government support.

“I’m very proud as prime minister, on behalf of the Australian people, to stand with Adass Israel, this community here today,” he declared. “This arson attack is an act of terrorism. It was fuelled by antisemitism, and it was stoked by hatred. We’re a country that needs to come together and unite.”

The government has been consistently accused by Jewish community leaders and the Opposition of mounting a lukewarm response to antisemitism since October 7, and there had been speculation the PM would be booed or heckled during the visit. Although there was the odd jibe, the visit was largely uneventful.

In the wake of the Adass synagogue firebombing, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu controversially linked the attack to the federal government’s recent vote supporting Palestinian statehood at the United Nations.

But this week the Australian government showed concern about antisemitism would not affect its votes at the UN.

Australia supported a United Nations resolution for an “immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire” in Gaza, joining most of the world in the strongest language Australia has adopted on the conflict to date.

Australia also backed a resolution defending the work of the UN relief agency UNRWA and rebuking Israel for obstructing its provision of aid in Gaza.

It was joined by more than 150 countries, including Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The United States and Israel were among a handful of countries to vote against the resolution.